Below is a summary of media coverage of the creation of a rat heart by University of Minnesota researchers using adult heart cels:
Canadian Press January 13, 2008: "Scientists create beating animal heart in lab; could help organ shortage"
"Researchers have brought a dead animal heart back to life in the lab by repopulating it with healthy cells, a feat they believe may someday allow them to grow new hearts and other organs for people desperate for transplants."
Reuters, January 13, 2008 2:41pm "Scientists create beating hearts in lab":
"U.S. researchers say they have coaxed hearts from dead rats to beat again in the laboratory and said the discovery may one day lead to customized organ transplants for people. ...Her study, which appeared on Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine, offers a way to fulfill the promise of using stem cells -- the body's master cells -- to grow tailor-made organs for transplant."
BBC News, 13 January 2008, 18:01 GMT: "'Spare part heart' beats in lab":
"The stripped-out shell of a heart has been made to work again - using brand new cells planted inside it.
Scientists removed all the muscle cells in a rat heart, leaving just a "scaffold" of other tissues such as blood vessels and valves. When the University of Minnesota team added heart cells, they quickly grew and produced a pumping action. It is hoped the Nature Medicine study will ultimately mean human or animal hearts can be crafted for transplant."
HealthDay News January 13, 2008: "Biotechnology Builds a New Heart":
"An organ-building biotechnology that could create transplantable hearts using stem cells from the recipients themselves has passed important laboratory tests, researchers report. The technique, called whole organ decellularization, has been used to create functioning heart tissue, according to a report in the Jan. 13 issue of Nature Medicine by a team at the University of Minnesota Center for Cardiovascular Repair."
New York Times, January 13, 2008: Researchers Create New Rat Heart in Lab:
"Medicine’s dream of growing new human hearts and other organs to repair or replace damaged ones received a significant boost on Sunday when University of Minnesota researchers reported success in creating a beating rat heart in a laboratory. Experts not involved in the Minnesota work called it “a landmark achievement” and “a stunning” advance. But they and the Minnesota researchers cautioned that the dream, if it is ever realized, is still at least 10 years away. ...The researchers removed all the cells from a dead rat heart, leaving the valves and outer structure as scaffolding for new heart cells injected from newborn rats. Within two weeks, the new cells formed a new beating heart that conducted electrical impulses and pumped a small amount of blood."
